april 8th
"happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you, happy birthday dear matty, happy birthday to you! woooo" i sang to matty while rose clapped her hands and half mumbled the words
"bidayyy" rose mumbled
"morning guys" matty laughed rubbing his eyes
we'd just woke him to sing him happy birthday and he definitely loved it
i sat beside him playing with his hair for a bit before i decided to ask
"do you feel older?"
"you ask every year grace" he laughed
"one day you'll answer"
he kissed my nose and i scowled at him
matty was 23 today and i had pulled out all the stops, i really wanted to give him the best birthday ever because he deserved it after everything.
i'd booked the day off work and woke up early to make sure everything was extra ready.
the boys were coming round in a couple hours, george was probably gonna arrive early and that was fine, i needed his help to put everything together.
the plan was that i was giving him some of the gifts i'd got him this morning and the rest tonight, the boys were coming round because i knew matty didn't want to go for a meal or anything like that. he told me before he just wanted it chill. after everything that had happened at christmas with his mum he didn't want to have a meal and then have to invite her so this was the easiest way to do things.
i realised we had a backyard fire pit and what could be more chill than drinking around it with your best mates and girlfriend?
obviously it wasn't safe to have rose around the fire all night but she was still sleeping early so it was fine. she could join in the food bit, we were all eating at the dinning table, then go in her swing set for a while until she got sleepy and then i'd put her to bed.
i had everything planed our because he deserved the best birthday ever. i'd gotten his favourite beer, georges favourite pasta, adams music taste and ross' wine that he suggested would be good.
"want ya first gift?" i asked
"i do" he said
i reached beneath the bed and pulled out a box, the wrapping was plain brown paper. i wanted to go for a older type vibe.
"hm?" he said shaking the present and exiting rose
"eeee!" she squealed trying to grab the present with her tiny hands
"rose? shall we open this together?" matty asked
she nodded and smiled showing us her 2 teeth, she was teething at the moment and it was awful, so many late nights.
when matty saw what was inside and his eyes welled, he ran his fingers of the paper brushing it away to expose the full present
"i wasn't sure for the first present so i thought go sentimental"
"i, i love it gracey" he said taking a deep breath and lifting the book from the box
i'd made him a photo album, i knew matty loved heartfelt things like this so it felt perfect. rose had helped me and done some potato prints.
on the front cover was a picture of us when we were younger, one of the first photos we took together
"your hair is so black here" he laughs wiping his eyes
"and yours looks like a bird nest" i retorted
"it does"
he flipped the page to see us at a nightclub, this was a crazy night, george dragged us out in the middle of january, i even had true receipt for the drinks we bought because i was the sucker who ended up paying that bill
"i didn't even know you kept this stuff" he said
"i didn't know i had it either until i was checking boxes for moving" i told him
he turned the page once more to see us on the beach in brighton
"oh god we need to take rose here one day" he said
"i will never ever go back to brighton with you" i told him
"yeah it was a mess" he admitted
"okay let's finish the book later you have many more presents to get through"
"really?" he said
"YES! 23 is a big one healy"
"it is?" he asked
i thought about it, i guess it wasn't really
"well any birthday of yours is big to me and rosey rose so suck it up daddy o"
"if i didn't love you i'd definitely hate you" he laughed leaning forward to kiss me
"the rest of your presented are in the spare let me go get them!" i said getting off the bed and taking one look at him before leaving the rooms. he was sat shirtless, cross legged in bed with rose sat opposite him trying to copy her dad. her legs were half crossed trying to copy him, i love it.
matty was playing peekaboo with her and she went ballistic loving it, i watched the way he smiled for her.
he was 23 today but he looked younger than i'd seen him in months, he looked happy and at peace, i'd never seen him like this until we moved in here. it's like all the demons have left him and all that's left is the matty before all the bad shit.
i went to the spare room and picked up the 6 boxes and packages before skipping back to our room.
"here ya go healy" i said handing him all the gifts, rose loved it and started trying to pick them up
"aww" i said
"you're so clever rosey!" matty told her, she looked at him with big eyes and i knew that look. she absolutely adored him
me too rose.
3pm
matty had gone for a shower even though george had arrived so i was preparing the food, this was good because me and george needed to all about the present that him and the boys had gotten him
george had arrived, i couldn't wait for him to give matty the present. him and the rest of the boys had asked me what he wanted and i knew what would be a good idea, i knew matty was gonna love it.
"heya" george said coming into the kitchen to help me set the table for the food
"hiya georgie"
"does he have any idea?" , i shook my head
"nope! i managed to get the stuff though" i said handing him the package of things he needed to complete the present
"you're an angel"
"will you check rose is okay? she's on that swing set again and she loves it but-"
"hey chill i'll check"
"thankyou" i said before i returned to the oven to check on the food. i heard george talking to rose outside and yelled
"i'm just gonna get changed and i'll be back"
"okay!"
i ran up the wooden stairs to mine and mattys room to pick an outift, the weather was warm so i didn't want to be wearing anything that was too thick. i brushed through my wardrobe before i found an outift i'd been meaning to wear.
i picked out the dog toothed skirt and white cropped jumper. simple but effective, i paired it with my black doc martins, they'd become a staple in all my outfits at this point. i brushed my hair and applied light makeup before rushing back down the stairs to see george finishing off the food
"go hang with rose it's all okay" he said
"thank ya georgie"
"you look nice ... by the way"
"why you being nice?" i asked suspiciously
"because sometimes i can be"
"okay sure we will go with that" i said sarcastically
i headed into the garden to get rose, i still had to get her ready, i had the perfect outift laid on her bed i just wanted her to play outside for a while first, she was a child after all and if she wanted to play she should.
i walked past george taking care to knee him as i did so, he smiled at me and shook his head. ur was nice having him here.
i changed rose and she was looking beautiful, she had a gorgeous blue top on with a flower pattern and a matching skirt
"mummy" she said pointing her little fingers at my face
"anddddd?" i asked
"daddy!" she squealed
she had begun to speak a lot more lately which was good because for a few months i was worried about the rate of her speech as she wasn't speaking too well. matty and the doctor assured me it was fine though, i couldn't help but worry.
i walked back downstairs with rose before i saw matty stood with george, he was wearing black jeans, no holes for once and a white jumper
"how can you steal me look" i laughed at him
"you stole MY look love" he said pulling me towards him
"happy birthday healy" i said brushing his hair out of his eyes
5pm
ross and adam has arrived now and we were about to give matty his final big present. we were all sat outside with the fire, i had grace on my lap as she watched the embers from the fire. she was mumbling words that sounded like
"the fire" but i couldn't be sure if she was just tired at this point, she'd been up a long while without a nap.
"matty?" ross asked
"yes ross"
"remember when you said you really wanted to go to the caribbean?"
"i do"
"well" george said passing him a envelope
"no" matty breathed as he held the tickets in his hands for the plane
"happy birthday!" adam said
"from all of us" george and ross said
"you guys-" he said speechless as he held the tickets between his fingers
"don't, you deserve it" ross said
"how did you get my pass-"
"grace helped" adam said
i shrugged my shoulder
"you deserve a holiday"
"are you sure you're okay with it?" matty asked
"matty, you're 23 have a lads holiday"
he looked weirdly at me like i couldn't handle him being away, i could
"but this says we leave tomorrow?" matty said completely lost
"cos you leave tomorrow idiot" i joked
"i love you guys" he said
"n we love you" adam said
"this is gonna be a holiday to remember" ross said
"oh let's be real it's gonna be a mess" adam replied
"4 days in the Caribbean what could go wrong?" george laughed